The Belgrade Fortress Research Project was established in 1976 with the aim of unifying all the research within the protected complex, including Kalemegdan Park, and performing scientific processing of the discovered material according to a consistent methodology. The long-term leader and initiator of all activities of this project was Dr Marko Popović. All program activities of the project are funded by the Belgrade City Assembly. 

Research programmes are aimed at obtaining scientific knowledge about the origin and development of the fortress and the urban settlement in the epochs of Antiquity, the Middle Ages and in later periods, up to modern times. In addition, data relevant for the conservation, restoration and revitalisation of individual buildings, sites and wider complexes within the fortress is collected. The project implements programmes of both systematic research as well as additional research associated with conservation works. Also, in cooperation with the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Belgrade, the project is involved in protective archaeological investigations in the area of the urban zone of the Roman Singidunum. 

The documentation centre of the project holds the entire archaeological research material – excavation logs, sketches and technical drawings, photographs of sites along with relevant details – and, for the time being, archaeological finds from the Belgrade Fortress. The processing of research results, including the making of reconstructions, also takes place here, as well as the analysis of data from historical sources, particularly the old plans of the fortress and the city, dating from the last decades of the 17th to the mid-19th century.

After being processed, all archaeological finds recovered in the course of the investigation of the Belgrade Fortress complex are handed over to the Belgrade City Museum, where they are then kept permanently. These are ceramic and glass artefacts, jewellery and clothing items, cultic objects, tools, medical instruments, weapons, coins, household inventory, parts of construction equipment, etc.   

Three large collections of ceramics have been processed and published to date – from the Roman, mediaeval and post-mediaeval period. Over the past three decades, research results have been published in the form of separate monographs, studies or articles. The Singidunum collection of papers is edited as part of this project.   

Selected bibliography:

В. Бикић (ур.), Барокни Београд – Преображаји (1717–1739), Београд 2019, 1–223.